Sunday, June 12, 2011

Sara Palin's Emails And Shakespeare

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.

"Palin was governor for 966 days, before ending her term abruptly. As of Friday, msnbc.com's request for public records was pending for 997 days.

At $725.97 for the latest set of documents, that price is a bargain, only 3 cents a page for the photocopying, compared with the state's first cost estimate of $15 million for search and copying costs during the 2008 campaign, when officials were flustered by the burst of attention focused on their governor." (Via)

"We're told that there are about 25,700 e-mails, with an unknown number of pages. That's not exactly what any of the news organizations asked for, as explained below, but it's what the governor's office says it will consider releasing.

They include these e-mails: anything sent to or from the governor or her husband, Todd Palin (either from their government or private Yahoo accounts) to the government accounts of 53 people: the governor, her husband, and 51 key state employees, including current and former top aides, gas pipeline commission members and members of her Cabinet.

The state says it plans to release some, and withhold some, of the e-mails it has collected, following the exemptions allowed in the public records law. (Via)

"Sarah Palin is not so much a political institution in America as a spectator sport. Ever since she burst, or crashed, on to the national scene as John McCain's presidential running mate three years ago, she has been the irresistible car wreck the country cannot help but ogle -- the polarising, gaffe-prone, attention-seeking gift that just keeps on giving. .....

"If the email leaks do anything, they are likely to act as a reinforcement to the widespread perception, even among her supporters, that there is something unseemly and excessively visible about her public persona. Joshua Green, who wrote a long and fascinating profile of her for the June issue of the Atlantic magazine, likened her reputation in Alaska these days to that of an ex-spouse from a stormy marriage. "She's a distant bad memory," he wrote, "and questions about her seem vaguely unwelcome." It may be that the rest of the country -- other than the media, who can't wait for her next stumble -- is tiring of her also. (Via)